People Moves: Hippo Adds Executives from Chubb, AIG, Tower Hill, Weston; Hub Names Rutt to Lead Cannabis

Hippo Names Executives Bienek, Primerano, Stienstra, Donahue

Home insurer Hippo announced four executive appointments to its insurance team as it prepares to go public.

Tim Bienek, Hippo’s chief insurance strategy officer, leads the development and execution of major insurance growth and profitability initiatives. Prior to Hippo, Bienek was CEO of Tower Hill Insurance Group, the third largest homeowner’s insurance company in the state of Florida. He has also held executive positions at Praetorian Financial Group, Affirmative Insurance Group, Hallmark Financial Group, and Benfield Blanch.

Rich Primerano, Hippo’s chief risk officer is responsible for overseeing the company’s capital, reinsurance, and select portfolio management practices to enhance overall operational efficiency. Primerano joins from Weston Insurance where he was chief operating officer, chief financial officer and treasurer. Throughout his career, he has held financial leadership and operating roles at insurance and reinsurance companies including RenRe North America, Trenwick Re, and Centauri Specialty Insurance.

Mike Stienstra, Hippo’s chief actuary, leads continuous risk evaluation and pricing, leveraging Hippo’s technology to optimize coverage for its customers. Stienstra joins from Chubb where as senior vice president he led the Personal Risk Services actuarial team. Prior to that, he was vice president Actuarial at Ace Insurance and assistant vice president Actuarial at QBE North America.

Chris Donahue, Hippo’s chief underwriting officer, leads technical underwriting, insurance product and portfolio management, and underwriting analytics. He joins from AIG, where he was global chief underwriting officer for Personal Lines and head of Portfolio Management, managing underwriting authorities, general underwriting practice and appetite as well as global catastrophe management. He has served as chief underwriting officer for Chubb Personal Risk Services and ACE Private Risk Services, and has held positions at A.M. Best, and Prudential.

The new insurance leadership team will be joining as Hippo enters the public markets. In March Hippo Enterprises said it will go public through a merger with a blank-check firm in a deal that gives the merged entity a pro forma enterprise value of $5 billion. mThe deal with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Reinvent Technology Partners Z will include a private investment of about $450 million.

The new executives will report to Rick McCathron, president of Hippo.

HUB International Names Rutt as U.S. Cannabis Specialty Leader

Global insurance brokerage HUB International continues to strengthen its cannabis insurance capabilities with the appointment of Bradley Rutt as U.S. Cannabis Specialty leader. Rutt will work alongside Jay Virdi, chief sales officer of Cannabis Specialty, in supporting the practice strategy nationally.

Rutt specializes in cannabis executive liability. He has worked with several large public and private management services organizations in designing tailored insurance programs and risk management programs. Before joining HUB, he was vice president and partner at Elkins Jones Insurance Agency in Los Angeles. Elkins Jones was acquired by Hub in 2017. Rutt is a licensed attorney and admitted in California.

Topics Cannabis AIG Chubb